Young appeared to go down easily under pressure from Shaun Derry, who was shown a straight red card before Wayne Rooney tucked in the first-half spot-kick.

Beard then likened Young to British Olympic diver Tom Daley in a Twitter post that was re-tweeted by QPR majority shareholder Tony Fernandes.

"Difficult to take after watching numerous replays but Ashley Young could partner Tom Daley at the Olympics," he wrote.

QPR director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam was also aggrieved, pointing to the fact Young also appeared to be offside in the lead-up to the incident, adding: "It was offside and a dive by Young! Alex Ferguson's luck with calls continues. Just wish there was video technology!"

Fernandes replied to that tweet, saying: "Awful. Spoilt another game."

He then added: "Thank you to all the manchester united (sic) fans for their honesty. Have received 150 tweets saying he was offside and was never a penalty."

After the game, Mark Hughes confirmed QPR planned to appeal the red card and said managers are "losing faith in
referees''.

"You do discuss it before every game,'' said Hughes. "You worry more about decisions going against you and it shouldn't be like that. You should have confidence that the referee will get the key decisions right. Just lately a lot of managers have lost faith in them.

"It is a difficult job. You have to be strong and really clear. You have to be 100% right to give the decisions. At the moment people are guessing and hoping that they get it correct. That was the case today.''

Even Sir Alex Ferguson admitted Young was offside, although he did claim
Derry's early exit had a negative effect on his own side.

"Ashley was a yard offside and I understand why Mark is angry,'' said the
United chief. "There have been a lot of decisions like that in the last few weeks.

"It didn't help us at all. I was more confident before the man was sent off
because the speed of our play and the movement was very good. After that we were just in a comfort zone.''

Hughes had instructed his side not to push too many men forward,
knowing the potential for conceding a number of goals that could suck them ever
nearer the drop was high.

"We couldn't have any effect on the game because we couldn't afford to concede
a shed load of goals,'' he said. "We had a real challenge to make sure we didn't go under and I was really
proud of the boys because they didn't allow that to happen.

"I have been part of United teams that have scored avalanches of goals because
their opponents have capitulated. We didn't do that today. I am really pleased with what we produced even if the game as a contest was over after 15 minutes.''

United wrapped up victory midway through the second half when Paul Scholes
capped a magnificent performance by driving home from 25 yards. It means they can plot Wednesday's trip to Wigan on the back of eight
successive wins, their grip on the championship tightening all the time.

"I am pleased with the consistency,'' said Ferguson. "There are only six games left now, three at home, three away, hopefully we can run it out.''

After beating Liverpool and Arsenal in their last two home games, Rangers will
hope to complete a hat-trick on Wednesday when they entertain Swansea. However, Hughes can only cross his fingers the decisions go his side's way.

"This weekend they (the officials) haven't covered themselves in glory,'' he
said. "These are massive decisions that affect people's livelihoods and the fans of
clubs who are dear to their hearts.

"Decisions are not being correctly made and they are affecting too many
people. The referee was too quick to put his whistle to his mouth. The kid was still
rolling around and he had already given a penalty. His assistant didn't have the
opportunity to put his flag up.

"I don't know what the answer is. They are a professional body now and they
have the opportunity to review performances. At the moment it is a numbers game and possibly they do not have enough
numbers of the right quality.''